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The Artistry of Wes Montgomery
The Artistry of Wes Montgomery
Date Posted: February 04 2010
Written By: Tim Fitzgerald
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The Artistry of Wes Montgomery by Tim Fitzgerald
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WesMontgomeryBook.com
On March 25, 1965, guitarist Wes Montgomery led his quartet into London’s BBC studios to perform for the TV show Jazz 625. Already known to the jazz community as a groundbreaking guitarist, Wes was at the top of his form, and, seemingly effortlessly, recorded one of the greatest jazz performances ever captured on film.
Guitarist Tim Fitzgerald has transcribed this entire performance and has published the 625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed. This is the definitive transcription of the music created on that day. It contains all of Wes’ melodies and improvisations, including intros, solos, shout choruses and tags. Also included are a detailed harmonic and aesthetic analysis of each solo, insight in to Wes’ unique technique and fingering, and an interview with the band’s pianist, Harold Mabern.
Tim has begun to write a monthly column for ChicagoJazz.com as a way of helping more people discover this incredible performance and Wes Montgomery’s physical approach to the guitar.
Below is the first article written by Tim Fitzgerald for this new column.
The Artistry of Wes Montgomery by Tim Fitzgerald
Introduction
Wes Montgomery's music has captivated me since I first put The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery on my record player as a beginning guitarist. When I later heard that there was actual film footage of Wes and his band, I couldn't wait to see it. I finally got my hands on a beat up VHS tape and popped it in the VCR.
I wasn't disappointed! Seeing the warmth and ease Wes projected only deepened my admiration. Those lines, that thumbs! I had to get as close to that performance as I could. But it was too much for my young ears -- no amount of rewinding the tape could answer my questions.
As an adult, I realized that the film footage was a valuable resource into understanding Wes' physical approach to the guitar. I then spent a few years getting inside the music, learning how Wes' fingerings and attack were tied to his perfect phrasing.
The result of that study is now the book, 625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed.
For this monthly column on ChicagoJazz.com, I'll be sharing some of the lessons I learned from the process of writing the book by using examples from the concert.
For the first column, I thought I'd start with one of the many elements of Wes' appeal -- his ability to play rhythmic and harmonic variations of single idea. This ability comes in handy on his original tune, Full House. Like his tune Jingles, Full House has long A sections of repetitive harmony. Let's look at how Wes takes a one hip two bar phrase, and parlays it into a terrific 16 bar A section.
Wes begins the last A of his improvised solo with a nifty two bar Fmin6 idea (bars 1-2 of the example). Beginning on beat two, It's a wide open line, jumping from the root to the fifth to the octave, then up an Fmin6 arpeggio. Wes sticks with the idea and plays it again, this time adding a pick-up note and a lower neighbor (bars 3-4). For the third pass, Wes again changes up the rhythm, playing all the upbeats until beat 3 of the second bar (bars 5-6).
After using a melodic Db minor idea to express C7 altered (bars 7-8), Wes returns to his original idea for the second half of the A section. He again plays his upbeat line -- fresh to the ears after the altered C7 -- then plays the line with yet another rhythmic variation (bars 11-12). Wes then adds the ninth to the line and closes the solo with a blues based idea (bars 13-16).
For more Wes Montgomery solos and more information on the book, please visit WesMontgomeryBook.com WesMontgomeryBook.com.
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